Efficient High-Power Wireless Charging of Drones using a Dual-Active-Bridge
The introduction of autonomous drones in the agricultural field to help with field searches and pesticide control has shown an increase in efficiency and health factor benefits. There is a rise of interest for autonomous drones in different fields of application. Furthermore, minimizing the downtime of charging drones and improving the efficiency of the drone’s power electronics has sparked an interest in wireless charging. Wireless charging for drones is prosperous however, the industry norm is utilizing a operating frequency in the kHz range, where the possible advantage of the MHz range is yet to be explored. The kHz applications have the disadvantage, compared to a higher frequency, that their components are bigger and bulkier. At higher frequencies however the switching losses increase, therefore the use of soft switching must be utilized both to avoid low efficiency and to avoid heavy heatsinks in the drones for the power to be dissipated.